|
US asks Nepal to seek Indian help on
refugee problem
KATHMANDU: Two senior US officials have told Nepal to
seek India's help in resolving the problem created by the
influx of thousands of Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin
into the country.
US Assistant Secretaries of State Karl Inderfurth, in
charge of South Asia, and Julia Taft, of the Bureau of
Population, Refugees and Migration, maintained that since
the Bhutanese refugees came through Indian territories,
Kathmandu should seek New Delhi's help to resolve the
matter.
Nepali officials said the two officials, who were here on
a visit, had stated that the US government has put forward a
new set of proposals aimed at repatriation of the Bhutanese
refugees to their homes.
In 1993, Nepal and Bhutan agreed there were four
categories of refugees who had to be repatriated - those
forcefully evicted from their homes in Bhutan, those who
left voluntarily, criminals and non-Bhutanese. But six years
after the agreement the agreement is yet to be executed.
Taft told a news conference separately that the US
proposal envisaged certain initial steps before verification
teams decide on the identity of the refugees according to
the four categories agreed to by both Nepal and Bhutan.
"There needs to be initial steps," Taft said
without elaborating and hoped Bhutan would accept the
proposal.
She said the two nations should proceed with the
verification programme in a coordinated manner and for that
"we need to get the Bhutanese team working in Nepal
with Nepali and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees) officials."
"It is necessary to first identify the refugees,
like determining who the head of a nuclear family is and
this head would identify the members of his or her one
family," she added. Bhutan had rejected this proposal
made by the UNHCR. Nine rounds of ministerial talks between
the two neighbours have failed to bring about an agreement
on the status of the refugees.
Meanwhile, a foreign ministry official said Bhutan has
proposed December 22-24 for another round of talks aimed at
finding a new common ground for categorising the refugees.
The official said, "Nepal had been writing to Bhutan
to begin official ministerial level talks to resolve the
Bhutanese refugee issue and positive feelers were being
received this time from Thimphu."
The refugees who, according to the UNHCR number 90,000
and live in seven camps in Jhapa and Morang in eastern Nepal
allege that they were victims of ethnic discrimination in
Bhutan, a charge denied by the Bhutanese authorities.
Relations between the two South Asian nations had turned
frosty since the influx of the refugees started.
|
